In U.S. patents by the inventor, various applications of sound-recognition techniques for use on or by a vehicle are disclosed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,663,502 discloses an occupant sensor that determines the presence and health state of any occupants in the vehicle by analyzing sounds emanating from the passenger compartment. Such sounds, or an interpretation or derivative thereof, can be directed, e.g., using telematics, to a remote, manned site for consideration in dispatching response personnel.
In one embodiment, presence determining means, health state determining means and location determining means obtain readings from the passenger compartment and direct such readings to a processor. The processor analyzes the information and directs or controls the transmission of the information about the occupant(s) to a remote, manned facility. Such information could include the number and type of occupants, i.e., adults, children, infants, whether any of the occupants have stopped breathing or are breathing erratically, whether the occupants are conscious (as evidenced by, e.g., eye motion), whether blood is present (as detected by a chemical sensor) and whether the occupants are making sounds (as detected by a microphone). The communications link through a communications unit can be activated immediately after the crash to enable personnel at the remote facility to initiate communications with the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,803 (reissued as U.S. RE 40073) discloses a method for monitoring movable assets and inanimate contents in the assets in which a replaceable cell phone or PDA having a location providing function and a low duty cycle is mounted on the asset, the location of the asset is determined, and information about the inanimate contents of the asset other than the location of the asset is also determined. The information determining step comprises arranging at least one wave receiver on the asset in a position to receive waves from the interior of the asset and comparing waves received by the at least one wave receiver at different times such that the information about the inanimate contents of the asset are obtained based on the comparison of the waves received by the at least one wave receiver at different times. Communications between the cell phone or PDA and the asset enable the cell phone or PDA to obtain the determined location of the asset and the determined information about the inanimate contents of the asset. A communications channel is established between the cell phone or PDA and a location remote from the asset to enable the information about the asset and its inanimate contents to be transmitted to the remote location. When a cell phone is mounted to the asset, the cell phone has a sound-receiving component, in which case, a pattern recognition system may be provided in the cell phone to recognize events relating to the asset based on sounds received by the sound-receiving component.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,014,789 discloses a method of determining a location of a cell phone or PDA at a location apart from the cell phone or PDA by obtaining information at the cell phone or PDA relating to reception of signals by the cell phone or PDA, transmitting the obtained information from the cell phone or PDA to a remote facility situated separate and apart from the cell phone or PDA, monitoring received sounds at the cell phone or PDA via a microphone of the cell phone or PDA, and programming the cell phone or PDA to analyze the received sounds. This latter step may entail training the cell phone or PDA to recognize the sounds of accidents involving a vehicle. Then, an accident indication signal may be transmitted to the remote facility when a sound of an accident involving the vehicle is recognized from the monitored received sounds. At the remote facility, the location of the cell phone or PDA is determined from the information transmitted from the cell phone or PDA when the accident indication signal is received.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,035,508 discloses a method for obtaining information about a person when in a vehicle or the vehicle, comprising providing the person with a portable device, arranging at least one sensor on the portable device, the at least one sensor including a microphone, and receiving information from the at least one sensor of the portable device when the portable device is situated in the vehicle. Information may be received from the at least one sensor by receiving sounds via the microphone of the portable device. Further, information about the person, the vehicle or an environment around the person is obtained using the at least one sensor of the portable device without manual interaction, e.g., by, inter alia, programming the portable device to analyze the information received from the at least one sensor to determine whether the information is indicative of an accident involving the vehicle. Programming the portable device to analyze the information may entail programming the portable device to analyze the received sounds via the microphone of the portable device. A signal based on the analysis of the received information from the at least one sensor of the portable device when situated in the vehicle may be transmitted to a remote facility including a signal based on the determination of whether the information is indicative of an accident involving the vehicle. The transmission of the signal based on the analysis of the received information entails transmitting to the remote facility, a signal indicative of the received sounds including the sound of an accident involving the vehicle or the sound of deployment of an airbag of the vehicle that would deploy to protect an occupant of the vehicle during an accident involving the vehicle. In some embodiments, the portable device is trained to recognize the sounds of accidents, for example, using pattern recognition techniques, such that the signal indicative of the receiving sounds being transmitted to the remote facility is an accident indication signal when the sound of an accident is recognized. Additionally or alternatively, the portable device may be trained to recognize the sounds of deployment of an airbag of the vehicle such that the signal indicative of the receiving sounds being transmitted to the remote facility is an airbag deployment signal when the sound of an airbag deployment is recognized.
All of these patents, along with U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,084, are incorporated by reference herein.